Pirated Movie App Disguised as Vision Test Snuck Onto App Store
A vision testing app named "Kimi" with a not-so-hidden pirated movie feature recently made its way past Apple's review team, ultimately reaching number eight on the list of top free entertainment apps.
As reported by The Verge, Kimi's App Store listing claimed that it was an app that "tests your eyesight," but when downloaded and installed, it opened right up to a clear TV show and movie interface for downloading and watching pirated content. There was no attempt to hide the app's true purpose behind some kind of vision test interface, which begs the question of how it made its way past the App Store review team.
The App Store description mentioned comparing two pictures as an eyesight test, watching scenery, and playing games, but none of those features were present in the app.
For an app focused on pirated content, Kimi had a fleshed out feature set. It offered top movies, search options, recommended suggestions, games, and more, with ads included for monetization purposes. The app was first approved in September, and it was available for several months in the iOS and macOS App Stores without Apple noticing.
Apple pulled the app this morning after The Verge wrote about it, and it is no longer available.
This is the second time in the last week that Apple's App Store has made headlines for questionable app approval. Last Thursday, popular password management app LastPass raised the alarm about a fake "LassPass" app that was imitating its design and feature set. Apple pulled the app about a day after the news was shared on media sites.
Popular Stories
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April.
From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone.
According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now.
Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017
"APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote.
Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April.
Priority Notifications
Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements.
While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way.
By the time the ...
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year.
The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time.
Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected.
While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...
